International Frontier Resources Corp. (IFR) formed a subsidiary, Petro Frontera SAPI de CV (Frontera), focused on assets from Mexico’s initial oil and natural gas bidding round in 2015, the company said April 13.

Frontera will study and bid on the assets, acquire and participate in service contracts that will become E&P contracts and will develop other petroleum and natural gas assets in Mexico.

In August 2014, the Secretaria de Energia de Mexico (SENER), said Round One, the country’s first bidding round, will include 169 blocks—109 exploration, 60 production and 14 under joint ventures with state-owned Pemex. The tender round for these blocks began in 2015’s first quarter, and production sharing agreements are expected to be awarded throughout the year.

Mexico is the ninth-largest oil producer in the world, and the 11th-largest in terms of net exports, IFR said. It holds the 18th-largest oil reserves in the world, and fourth-largest in the Western Hemisphere, the company added.

International Frontier Resources Corp. is based in Calgary, Alberta. It operates in U.S. and Canadian regions including the Southern Alberta Basin in northwest Montana.

Offshore